


Soundproof

by firefly2552025



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-21
Updated: 2014-07-03
Packaged: 2018-01-10 06:19:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1156161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firefly2552025/pseuds/firefly2552025
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave is a producer and a recording artist. One day, he goes to his recording studio to find out that it is being renovated to patch up a few spots that needed soundproofing. There, he meets a voice actress with a cat obsession and they throw around weird banter because they are dorks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Renovation

**Author's Note:**

> I found there was a lack of DaveNep. I wanted to fix that. I was in a desperate need for some fluffy DaveNep. Also I have no idea how recording studios work so sorry if there are mistakes.

Your name is Dave Strider.

You are headed to work to your recording studio. Your job is to produce music and mix tracks. You also sometimes record your own raps, but nobody has yet to take you under a label as a recording artist. Your thoughts on that matter would be a more neutral and indifference because hey, unsigned artists are cool, right?

As you park your car in a spot where you'd definitely remember (not that there were moments you didn't), you strolled to the front of the building where you drop sick beats and awesome rhymes. But when you got there, the studio didn't look like the way you last saw it.

Casually you take it all in. There was a notice taped neatly to the door. Confused, you approach the little slip of paper which rustled a bit in the wind. Steadying it, you learn from the note that the studio is fixing some places the soundproofing failed to work.

You decide to text other people you work with. Perhaps they'd know something about this you don't.

You quickly pull out your phone. Perhaps your best friend John Egbert knows something. 

yo so whats up with the studio

i don't know dave! i was going in to record the piano piece for my album and i found that notice up. 

im going to text dirk about this

You switch your phone's messaging system to talk to the man who owns the place.

hey so i saw what happened with the studio 

you know whats up right

Yeah, people were complaining about that show called the "Meowrails." Apparently people found some faint yowling in their audio tracks and started complaining. Can't blame them. I'd take puppets over cats any day. 

ok no 

Don't be hating on the puppets. 

its past ironic bro

you like it unironically

thats what scares me

It's past your level of understanding of irony. It's okay. Maybe someday you'll fill in your big bro's footsteps. 

And there you have it. Family is always intense.

i still remember the day you tossed out those kittens and handed me a smuppet

it was the worst day at my tender age

shit ruined me for life 

It was for your own good, little man.

Besides, cats land on their feet so you had nothing to worry about. 

You have deduced many years prior that your brother has no soul. Always playing with the hearstrings, always the player of hearts.

alright whatever

when the studios open hit me up

Will do, little man, will do.

Grumbling to yourself, you turn away briskly to walk into a tiny girl with a gigantic trenchcoat.

This wouldn't happen very often. It's just when you're mad you can't even do basic everyday things like flashstepping the hell out of a place.  
Also it would reduce your visibility by over seventy percent.  
Nonetheless, you've got time to apologize to the childlike figure.

"Shit, I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking and I ran into you. Are you okay?"

The tiny girl, who just happened to look rather catlike replied with a giggle.  
"I'm feline fine! Really! I'm a strong lioness who can look afurrter herself. Mew don't have to furry ameowt me!"

"Did you just..." You literally have no words for this girl. Not now for the time being. You're never at a loss for words.

"Oh! I'm furry sorry. A purropurr introduction is in order. I'm Nepeta Leijon, but I'm also known as arseniccatnip by offur people. I'm the actress furrom Meowrails! And mew are?"

"Dave Strider. I'm a recording artist and as far as I know, your show's the root problem to us both to not be able to go into the studio to work today. Must have been some serious meowing."

The small catgirl laughed. She blushed a bit as she attempts to explain the peculiar deeds she does for her work.

"Mew see, this is about the expurression of efurryone here. I'm furry sorry that we've dispurrupted your work. I don't know exactly what is going on but I'm still furry sorry fur clawsing all this on behalf of efurryone on the Meowrails purrduction team. Meowbye we can get food as a treaty furr this?"

You try to forget that you're predisposed to like cats.

You try and you fail.

"Sure, why not."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, it's kinda bad.  
> BUT DAVENEP!  
> The things that are referenced are here:  
> When Dave's Bro threw out the kittens: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7tYpRlqq3E  
> I also made little Sburb references as well, if you hadn't noticed.


	2. Lunchtime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave and Nepeta are going to eat. What Dave will find is that Nepeta will find a way to break through his coolkid facade.  
> Dorks being dorks.

"Yay!" Nepeta cheered.

"Doesn't sound like you do too much outside work," you wondered.

"No, I just like meeting new peopaw. They are paways so fun to talk to," she chirped happily. "But also I was scared that mew wouldn't want to accept my apawlogy. Claws it has been something that's catppened befurr. Peopaw just don't like to talk to me," she noted as you noticed her start to shrink into herself.

"Yeah, that happens." 

You try not to remember that your coolkid attitude is very off-putting to some people. Oh well, who needs them anyway?

"Come on, we should go before we get mobbed by the lunch crowd or some shit. Any idea on where to go?" 

"There's a mew purrlace on the next street. It has all the things a hunter can want! Mmmmm meat."

"Naw, we need our veggies. I suggest pizza."

"Pawizza's not a vegetable, silly!"

"It's not? Dammit, Bro."

The tiny catgirl let out a cute and quick giggle as you now deduced that at least some part of your life has been a lie.

You think to yourself that maybe hanging out with Nepeta isn't such a bad idea. You could be in worse company.

Within a few minutes of walking, both of you make it to the new restaurant called "The Meteor."

"Here we are," designated your smaller companion, "afurrter mew, pawlease," as she let out another adorable laugh.

You don't know if she even realizes that her mannerisms are, in one way, absolutely precious. 

You briskly step through the establishment's entrance. Nepeta stealthily follows.

You walk up to the counter after inspecting the menu for a bit. You decide to get some apple juice and Doritos. Can't go wrong with that.

Nepeta bounces up a while later and orders enough food to feed an army.

You're shocked that a person as small as she can eat so much.

"What about mew?" she asked quizzically.

"Gonna get some apple juice and Doritos. I'll see what else I can get in a sec."

"Would you like some grub sauce with that, motherfucker?" the cashier asked.

"Gamzee! Mew aren't allowed to claws at peopaw anymeow! Equius said so! He said mew would get fired and Jane will hire somepawdy else!"

"Jane 'n Equius aren't here, catsis. Now what would you motherfucking like, Nepeta?"

"Gamzee! I pawready told mew my order."

"I'm just messin' with ya'll. Here, sit where you motherfucking like and I'll get your motherfucking miracles ready."

"Oh Gamzee..."

You pick a booth with a table that looked passably clean. You then consult your new acquaintance. 

"You know that guy?"

"Yeah, he draws for the compawny I work fur. He is an ameowzing artist but he doesn't paways seem right in the head. He keep his job with Alternian Productions and works various other jobs, too. Efurrybody thinks that Gamzee does it to fund shady things. I seem to think that as meowch as anyone.

"Nobody wants any of his sopor slime pies anymeow beclaws of that, too."

"Wow. I'm still wondering why is he allowed to have jobs if he's like that. I've heard about something about sopor slime in the studio but I wasn't sure if it was true."

Nepeta sighed softly, "It's true. We just don't want Alternian Productions to become a mess. Karkitty's paways trying to help Gamzee get it together. But Gamzee gets his work done and he does it well, so Karkitty hasn't fired him pawmenently...yet..."

"Well, seems like Alternian Productions have a hell of a time trying to keep its shit together. How do you like it yourself?"

Nepeta's green eyes lit up and she began jabbering about the inner workings of her job.

"Well, it's nice. Pawllux, er, Sollux, our compurrter guy, is paways getting fed up beclaws fur each episode he has to get efurrything together. Still, he does an ameowzing job at it. Karkitty, um, Karkat, our director has to yell at efurryone to get things done, and Equius and I work with voices with other voice actors!"

She went on like this until the food was ready.

"Hey motherfuckers, sorry to get all up and into your conversation, but you can motherfucking get your grub on right now.

Nepeta caught a look at the spread of food before the two of you.

"Gamzee, I appawreciate your wish to give peopaw surpurrises in their food, but I would purrfur if mew did not purrpare my food upside down."

"Sorry, Nepsis, I like to give my friends all the motherfucking miracles I can get them."

"It's okay. Meowbe tone down some of the meowriclaws mew are serving and efurryone would be happier with the food."

"No problem, Nepsis."

Nepeta again turned her attention to you.

"Sometimes he acts like a baby. But it's okay. Efurryone loves him anyway."

You are slightly amused by these further declarations of Gamzee's colleague.

Both of you while away with small talk of the studio and with you slightly picking at Nepeta by the sheer amount of food she has ordered. By then, she had already offered you some of the food she ordered. You tell her you're content with the food you've got.

Before you even have a chance to move away, she's already feeding you with her spoon. You try to flash step as fast as you can but you can't. She's faster than you.

She smiles happily. You return that smile towards her.

You smile. You realize what you're doing. 

It's unnatural.

Smiling's unnatural.

You're smiling and Nepeta's to blame.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't updated for in about forever. I've been busy and have tons of writer's block. I'm also at my matesprit's house so it's also difficult to have things up on time along with that, as I'm on my netbook rather than my desktop.
> 
> The pizza as a vegetable thing came out because a Bro cosplayer's headcanon that the Striders treat pizza as a vegetable.
> 
> Also, as a side note, DaveNep happened at a recent cosplay meet!
> 
> https://scontent-a-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/1902980_667984033274700_830084519_n.jpg


	3. Home Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave goes home wondering what he is going to do with his job, his mixes, and about a certain catgirl named Nepeta.

You exchange your phone number with Nepeta and both of you agreed that texting each other was not a bad idea at all. You enjoyed each other's company and would like to arrange another time to hang out, once work was out of the way or on the weekend or some other time you're not dropping sick beats. You part your ways and head home to your apartment you share with your Bro.

Not long after, John decides to text you as you're about to step into your residence to catch something on TV. Or look online for the show "Meowrails." Not that you're interested in what Alternian Productions make or anything.

hey dave! did you find out what happened with the studio?

egbert its like theyre trying to force everyone to have a cat

by having cat noises everywhere

so, um, it's about noise from the other studio rooms? because that's what it sounds like 

man bro needs to come clean about this

dumping this cat shit on us

wow, um, haha. i guess it's got to go?

thats why the renovations taking place

i talked to the girl behind it shes chill and apawlogized for it

shit i mean

apologized

god her cat puns

haha dave, you okay? sounds like a cat-astrophe over there

i don't want to think about her cute catpuns and her kitty roleplaying

erm kiddy roleplaying god

dave! sounds like you got a crush! :B

god damn it egbert if bro finds out about this ill be the end of me i swear to jegus

jegus?

typo sorry i mean jesus

aw, dave! don't be such a worrywart! crushes are totally normal!

naw man bro will strife me so hard i won't be able to feel my arm anymore

dave, let's be realistic here. you don't go a day without strifing your bro.

yeah but hell go harder on me just because he can and just because i wont admit that i like her

why don't you tell your bro?

hell find a reason to make my life a living hell nonetheless

we arent very close for a reason

gives me a faceful of puppet ass everywhere i turn

not that im complaining about puppets or anything 

puppets are cool

dave...

well gotta go im almost home cant wait to get bombarded by all that plush rump

You pull out the keys to your apartment and unlock the door. Taking a deep breath, you open the door cautiously. At least a few dozen smuppets fly towards your face. You try your hardest not to freak out. You try and you fail. You slice all the puppets with your ninja sword, which you have stashed with you at all times.

"GODDAMMIT BRO!"

Dude is like a ninja. You never see him coming or going anywhere.

You don't see him anywhere. Figures, not unlike him at all.

You don't have time for this bullshit. If Bro wants to strife, he can wait. You have important shit to do.

You go to your room to lay down some sick beats. If you can't record at the studio, it doesn't mean you can't work on ill tracks at home.

A few hours whizz by with you messing around on your turntables to get some music down. You tend to get lost in your music when nobody is around.

After you realized you were done for the day seeing you managed to turn out a larger half of a CD's worth of tracks, you settle down by the computer in order to do some research. For one, you were going to find out how long you were allowed to be out of work by the circumstances set by the "Meowrails" and, consequently, the remodeling of the studio. You text your boss that the studio is under renovation to soundproof the rooms a little better and that it probably won't be open for a couple of days. You also told him that you've done some mixes that he might want to see. You weren't going to give up your music for a couple of days just because the studio isn't available. No, you're gonna work your ass off even if you can't record everything right away. Striders don't half-ass shit.

Your boss text back that it was fine, that even though the studio being in maintenance was a huge inconvenience, that you can still get your work done with other studios over the internet. Your bro had given the time frame of three to five days of the studio being out of service. Relieved, you try to move onto dealing with other things you have on your mind.

You remember the petite catgirl you met, Nepeta. Even though you didn't mention it, you had a fursona, too. Akwete Purrmusk. You'd jokingly created it while you were younger and were chatting with one of your friends, not knowing if she was awake or not.

You make a mental note to bring up Akwete with your next encounter with Nepeta.

Nepeta...you were still curious as to what she did that caused this whole debacle, even though she told you a lot about it.

It turned out Meowrails were about a show about aliens, that centered around best friends Nepeta and Equius. It was a series of episodes of the cast on the alien planet and its complex society. The show was a kid's show mostly. It came on air right after "Squiddles" were off air and discontinued.

You wonder...

You contemplate watching a few episodes, trying to see if you can gain a deeper insight as to who she was, in and out of work.

You decide to push it until later and instead think about Nepeta instead.

She made you smile. No one has been able to make you smile. Not even your best bro Egbert. You had to give her props to that. She was good. 

She's cute; she's a furry, of course, with her tail, cat hat, and her cat puns. You remember them rubbing off on you as you talked to John. You're more susceptible to other's behaviors than you had originally thought. 

You imagine her cute laughter and her playful demeanor. She was indeed someone interesting and you can definitely say you were interested in her.

Except not to your bro.

You've had an estranged relationship with your bro ever since those smuppets were created. 

One day back in your youth, your bro had decided to make smuppets and throw them all around the house. Frankly, you were a little freaked, but having been raised by Lil' Cal, you didn't know what to say and were taught that puppets were cool.

You became less sure of that.

So slowly, you and your bro became less and less close, culminating in strifing with swords on the rooftop on top of the apartment every day.

Speaking of which...

Your bro is waiting for you on the rooftop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been such a busy few months! I'm so sorry I haven't been able to get back on this! I know exactly where I want the story to go but the hard part is getting it all down.


End file.
